By Nick Mulvenney
TOKYO (Reuters) -Julia Paternain reacted in complete disbelief when she crossed the line third in the women’s marathon on Sunday to win Uruguay’s first world championship medal.
The gruelling nature of marathon running, especially in the sort of suffocating heat that shrouded Tokyo on Sunday, means confusion for athletes at the finish is by no means unusual.
Paternain also finished well behind the first two athletes, Peres Jepchirchir and Tigst Assefa, and so was completely alone on the track as she crossed the line to the ovation of the National Stadium crowd.
The 25-year-old first checked for her time and then counted off the athletes in front of her, finally raising three fingers as she realised she had won a bronze medal at her first world championships.
“I really could not believe it, I had no idea where I was, I knew I was top eightish, I was too scared to look behind me because I didn’t want to get caught,” said the Mexican-born, British-raised, American resident.
“At the end of a marathon, you’re tired, your brain is not working properly, I just wanted to make sure that truly was the finish. So, a little bit of confusion, but I’m just extremely grateful and honestly just in shock.”
The daughter of a Cambridge University academic, Paternain was schooled in the English city, ran U.S. collegiate track at the University of Arkansas, and represented Britain until switching to Uruguay in January this year.
“I grew up in England but my whole family is from Uruguay,” she added. “It’s a small country and I think it gets forgotten about a bit. But it has a lot of pride and it means a lot for me to represent Uruguay.”
Paternain was ranked 288th in the world in the women’s marathon coming into Sunday’s race, not a huge surprise given it was only the second time she had competed over the distance.
“I had my first marathon in March in very different conditions,” the 25-year-old said.
“It was a flat three mile loop and I had my own pacer, I think there were six women in the field. So, this was a very different experience but a really cool one.
“I never imagined top three,” she added in Spanish. “I think I barely made it into the marathon — I was something like number 99 or so, and then with some people dropping out, I got in. But I never expected to come in third, and I’m really proud.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, additional reporting by Irene Wang and Sylvia Cheung, editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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